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Comment by volune | Hacker News Reader

can this principled stand outlast the public increasingly short memory?

These "principled stands" seem very selective and subjective. It looks a lot like the online version of mob justice.

What do you even mean by that? Statements like that make no sense at all to me. Do you not believe that those who organise this are principled? Why exactly?

Also, you see exactly how powerless they are. Mobs tend to have power through violence. That’s just not to be found here. It’s just some people not using the product and being open about their dissatisfaction …

Really, this line of argument confuses the hell out of me.

Perhaps I should clarify... It's almost certain that you could find fault with someone involved with virtually any major organization, or their business practices if you look long and hard enough. Singling out one organization among hundreds of thousands of others in the world seems completely arbitrary.

In terms of the mob justice reference, it's largely to do with the mob anger that gets whipped up in forums such as this one. It may not be physical violence, but it does seek to damage the "target" economically.

What exactly does an organized boycott have in common with "mob justice"? They seem like polar opposites to me.

A large group of people getting whipped into a righteous frenzy to punish a "target" for some perceived wrongdoing?

Mobs rape and pillage. They don't organize peaceful boycotts in protest of government surveillance.

Probably not, but surveillance is being subjected to "death from a thousand papercuts". While we probably won't ever put the cat back into the bag, these smaller protests add up to a greater cumulative sum, reminding politicians that there are at least some kind of consequences to their actions.

It isn't the large-scale surveillance rollback we are looking for, but it's the next best thing.

magic 8-ball says...don't count on it

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